A Rose by Any Other Name
by chasin' fantasy
Summary: A princess left a castle never to return. In her adventures, men lost gold and kingdoms' fates changed. Due to her wanderlust and knack of finding danger, she left multiple realms forever changed in her wake. No kingdom's fate was more changed by her presence than a small town in Maine.


Missing princesses are not usually found in small village taverns. They tend to be in dungeons of rival kingdoms, or buried in a shallow grave due to being killed by bandits. Yet, that is where Morgan was, sitting at a table in the back. She was gambling with her hood up to cover her face. Over the years, she had discovered that the best information came from drunk men losing their money.

Her father would be horrified, if he was still alive, to see one of his beloved daughters spending so much time in taverns and other places of ill repute. Of course, her sister's recent adventures as a bandit would also cause him to turn in his grave.

It was in a tavern where Morgan had heard tale of Snow White's wedding and the Evil Queen's vow to destroy everyone's happiness. When she heard even more rumors of the Dark Curse, she knew that it was time to head home.

"We'll never make it in time," Sarah, Morgan's companion, best friend, and ever the pessimist, complained as they raced their horses through the forest.

With her dirty blond hair and wide green eyes, Sarah was the most dangerous person to assume was just a pretty face. She had saved Morgan's life more times to count, and Morgan had returned the favor. They had met at a ball a couple years past, and had become fast friends. Both craved adventure, and both had gotten their fair share of danger due to their wanderlust.

"Of course, we'll arrive in time," Morgan told her best friend. "Sarah, for once in your life, have some faith."

Mallory was having an awesome day. She aced her math test first period, and after school her shift at Storybrooke's movie theater went by without a hitch. Mallory felt as if nothing could ruin her mood, and then she arrived home.

The first thing Mallory saw when she opened the door was Sheriff Graham trying to soothe her pacing mother.

"Is he with you?" Her mother said hysterically the moment Mallory walked through the door.

"Who?"

"Henry! He didn't show up for his therapy session today, and no one saw him at school. I think he ran a way."

"He has no money, and it's Tuesday. No one runs away on a Tuesday." Mallory said as she started walking upstairs to her room.

"So, I take it you have no idea about his plans?"

"Mom, relax." Mallory yelled from her room. "If he did run away, he'll be home as soon as he is hungry or realizes that he can't go anywhere because he has no money to pay for transportation."

As soon as Mallory said those words, her eyes landed on the box that contained her spare cash. It was open and very much empty.

"On second thought," she told her mom as she ran down the stair. "He does have money, and I'm going to kill him when he returns for stealing it all from me.

The Dark Castle could not get any more ominous. With its dark stone and long, towering spikes, the castle stuck fear in the hearts of whomever looked upon it. Morgan knew this to be the reason why Evil Queen stole it from Snow White, but she wondered at times why the previous kings and queens had designed it as such.

"Do you have to go in?" Sarah asked her.

"Yes," Morgan replied. "I have to meet with the Queen just as you have to meet with Alexander and Snow White's council."

"She'll never forgive you for siding with evil, Morgan."

"I have to betray her to her face while I send you and Alex to support her as my secret proxy." Morgan explained sounding resigned and beaten.

"You and I both know that being a double agent backfires."

"We have no choice Sarah. This battle is lost, but the war can still be won."

At those words, Morgan spurred her horse and rode toward the former Winter Palace. She did not look back in the direction of her best friend, nor did she falter. Without knowing the true price she would pay for her loved ones' safety, Morgan rode to meet with a woman she had not seen in years.

The night seemed to drag on as Mallory waited with her mom and the sheriff for Henry's return. The sheriff had already exhausted every means to find the missing boy, and now all they had to do was wait either for Henry to return, or for the correct amount of time to pass before they could fill out a missing person report.

The hours seemed to drag on as Mallory got hungrier and more tired. As much as she would have liked to eat, do homework, or go to bed, Mallory knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything until Henry showed up.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they heard a car pull up in front of the house. Mallory's mom wrenched open the door and went running out to greet Henry. Sheriff Graham followed close on her mom's heels, and Mallory went in search of food.

As she was climbing the stairs to her room with a sandwich hanging from her mouth, Mallory heard her little brother scream "I found my _real_ mom!" Suddenly, she was being trampled by Henry as he made a mad dash up the stairs. As Mallory was recovering from somehow being run over by a ten-year-old who was half a foot shorter than her, Sheriff Graham went up the stairs after him.

"Tell him that he owes me from here until eternity for stealing my money." Mallory told the sheriff as he walked passed her.

"Get your priorities in order, Miss Mills." The sheriff told her. "Your brother just returned from a potentially dangerous adventure."

"That doesn't excuse him from taking all of my cash." Mallory muttered under her breath.

Mallory continued to climb the stairs to her room ignoring her mother and Henry's birth mother's conversation in the foyer below. At the time, Mallory had no idea how life changing Henry's little adventure would be for her and all of Storybrooke.

Morgan sauntered into the Evil Queen's private study swiping a finger across the desk as if inspecting for dust.

"You have made quite a name for yourself, your majesty," she called out into the empty room.

Suddenly a cloud a purple smoked entered the room, and the Evil Queen was standing in front of Morgan in all her glory.

"Who are you, and how did you enter my palace?" The Queen asked furiously.

Morgan continued to speak as if she had not heard the Evil Queen.

"I heard tale of your threat at Snow White's wedding from kingdoms away. It was most surprising seeing as I thought no one in that kingdom had even heard of the princess turned bandit turned princess again."

"Why are you here?" The Queen demanded.

"I'm here to make a deal."

"I'm not Rumpelstiltskin. I do not make deals with strangers." The Queen said dismissively.

"It's a good thing that I'm not a stranger then," Morgan replied while sitting down on a couch with no intention to leave soon.

"I believe you are a stranger because I do not know you, and that is the very definition of a stranger."

"I always find it to be quite a sad day when a mother forgets the face of her daughter." Morgan said with a smirk.

The Evil Queen whirled around to face Morgan recognition now in her eyes.

"I have no daughter."

"Snow White might not be, but I am."

"That may be so, but as I said I do not make deal with strangers. That is what you become when you leave and do not return for four years."

"Well, I am not one to make deals with the person who murdered my father, but desperate times call for desperate measures." Morgan retorted with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Alright, I'm listening."

"In this cursed realm, I'm assuming that we all will have no memories"

"That is correct."

"I want to be able to have my memories."

"The whole time?"

"No, that would be awful. I want them when the savior decides to stay in the kingdom where we live. Not when he enters, but when he decides to stay."

"What if there is no savior?"

"There always is for a curse like this."

"Well, what if the savior never decides to stay?"

"Then, I will forever keep the memories that this curse of yours gives me."

"Alright, I'll let you have your memories, but I want something in return."

Morgan was expecting this because after all, there always is two sides to every deal. She was expecting to go on some sort of quest in this realm or another sort of death defying task. However, she was not expecting what the Queen asked wanted.

"Whatever you want," Morgan told her. "I shall give."

"I want you to live in my house, and play the part of supporting daughter in the new realm. There will be no rebellion with or without your memories, and you shall always obey my orders so long as I saw 'now.'"

"Deal"

The next morning, Mallory was almost late to school because of Henry. For some reason, the little twerp was not in his bedroom or anywhere else in the house. Needless to say, her mother was losing it.

"Mom," Mallory said running low on patience and time. "Just go to the sheriff station. You can get him to drive around and question people, or even get access to the town's security cameras."

Mallory was walking out of the door car keys in hand when her mother stopped her.

"I'll drop you off at school today."

"Why?"

"It's on the way to the sheriff's station, and there's no need to waste the gas."

"You don't trust me."

"Of course, I trust you."

"No, you don't. You think I know where Henry is, and you're either going to interrogate it out of me, or you think this is a way to stop me from helping him. Well I don't know where he is, I won't help him on his little crusade, and I will drive myself to school today."

At the end of her rant, Mallory wrenched the door open, slammed it behind her, and drove to school. She luckily made it to first period right as the bell rang.

Morgan was remembering why she despised carriages with a passion of a hundred burning suns as she sat in the Queen's. Racing through the forest, the Queen was determined to reach Snow and Charming's Palace before the curse hit it.

"So, the clouds…" Morgan started.

"Yes?" The Queen said urging Morgan to continue the question with flick of her hand.

"Do all curses come with purple clouds, or did you add them for the dramatic effect?"

"I did not miss you in the slightest when you were gone."

"Rumor has it your mother is on a warpath." Hank Herman said as he sat down with Mallory and her best friend, Faith Phrygia, at lunch.

Hank with his purple hair and dark brown eyes was one of Morgan's best friends. It was also his goal to send his father into an early grave. Mallory thought at times that he and his brother had a competition going. Sean would wreck his car, and Hank would be caught cheating on a test. Sean would knock up some girl, and Hank would die his hair purple and get a tattoo.

"What happened this time?" Mallory said popping grape in her mouth.

"She barged into Ms. Blanchard's class and started yelling at her." Hank explained as he kissed Faith on the cheek.

Faith and Hank had been dating for years. Faith's calm demeanor sometimes could keep Hank's wild side in check. However, Hank would do anything for his dirty blond hair beauty. Because of this, Mallory thought that Faith would encourage Hank's recklessness at times.

"Any idea why your mother would terrorize poor Ms. Blanchard?" Faith asked Mallory.

"Probably because Henry disappeared again this morning." Mallory explained nonchalantly.

"Again?!" Both her friends said at the same time.

"Oh? Did I not tell you that Henry ran away to Boston last night to drag his birth mother back here?" Mallory asked. "I could have sworn I texted at least one of you."

"That would explain the blond in the red leather jacket following your mother around." Hank said.

"Just how much time do you spend at the elementary school?" Mallory asked her best friend. "Because, _I_ don't even know what she looks like."

Morgan was regretting going with the Queen to Snow and Charming's castle. When they entered, Snow was crying over her dead husband's body, and the Queen could care less.

"Oh, don't worry, dear," the Queen said to Snow. "In a few moments you won't remember you knew him, let alone loved him."

"Why did you do this?" Snow asked the Queen. Then, she spotted Morgan standing behind her. "Why are you helping her?"

Morgan opened her mouth to try to talk but the Queen cut her off.

"Because this is _my_ happy ending, and she knows who the winning side is."

A guard enters the room and the Queen turns to him.

"The child?"

"Gone. It was in the wardrobe; and then it was gone." The guard said. "It's nowhere to be found."

"Wait there's a child involved?" Morgan asked, but no one seemed to pay her any mind. If there was a child involved and the Queen hurt it, Morgan made a grievous error in judgment and choices.

"Where is she?" the Queen asked Snow.

"She got away." Snow said extatically. "You're going to lose. I know that now. Good will always win."

Snow turned to Morgan as the ceiling cracks and the air swirls around them.

"You chose the wrong side Rose." She told Morgan.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that Snow." Morgan told the bandit princess.

"Where are we going?" Snow asked the Queen.

"Somewhere horrible," the Queen said in glee. "Absolutely horrible. A place where the only happy ending will be mine."

"I might have made the wrong decision." Morgan muttered under her breath as the clouds of the curse smothered them all.

Mallory was walking through the park after school when she saw May Margaret Blanched sitting alone on a bench staring at the pond.

"I'm sorry about my mother." Mallory said coming to stand in front of the teacher.

"You've heard then." Ms. Blanchard said looking up from the pond.

"I expect that half of the town has heard by now."

"Gossip does travel fast in small towns," Ms. Blanchard said standing up. "If you'll excuse me Miss Mills, I have to go to the hospital to volunteer now."

"Goodbye Ms. Blanchard." Mallory said as the teacher walked away.

"I don't blame her you know." Ms. Blanchard said turning around to face her.

"No?"  
"Her child was missing, and she needed someone to take all her emotions out on."

"You're not her therapist Ms. Blanchard." Mallory told the teacher.

"No, I am not," Ms. Blanchard said with a slight laugh. "Have a good afternoon Miss Mills."

That night the world seemed back in order for Mallory. Henry had been returned home, and life was looking up. She had just finished her homework for the night when the headache hit. The pain was so bad that Mallory had to close her eyes and lie down. Suddenly, visions were running through her mind and across her eyelids.

She saw a younger Ms. Blanchard wearing a ball gown, and a Hank without dyed hair welcoming her into a castle during a rainy night. She saw Faith saving her life, and Faith running next to her in a forest. Her mind was assaulted with visions of castles and taverns, princes and peasants, knights and kings, and most prominently of magic and swords. She saw Hank kissing her before he rode off, and then her leaving Faith behind as Mallory rode toward a menacing castle. Lastly, Mallory saw Ms. Blanchard on the floor with a man's head in her lap. She was crying and looking at Mallory with eyes filled with pain and disappointment.

As quick as the visions came, they were gone. Mallory slowly opened her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"Shit," she muttered to herself. "We're so screwed."

With those words, she looked out of the window, and saw the clock tower's minute hand move for the first time ever.


End file.
